HC: Differently abled children to take exam in their own schools
COURT ALSO DIRECTS CBSE AND PUNJAB, HARYANA BOARDS TO ALLOW THESE CHILDREN TO HAVE SCRIBE OF THEIR CHOICE
: Differently abled students studying in schools affiliated to the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) and education boards of Punjab and Haryana will not be shifted out of their schools for the Class 10 and 12 board examinations slated for next month, the Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled.
The high court bench of justice Rajesh Bindal and justice BS Walia also directed the CBSE and the two boards to allow these children to have scribe of their choice.
Besides, the invigilators appointed by the boards have been given powers to take on-the-spot decision on mode of examination of the student with different abilities, assistant solicitor general Chetan Mittal, who appeared before the court on behalf of the central government, said.
The special children will be allowed to take objective type examination, as was the practice prior to 2011.
Each specially abled child has different needs. So, the mode of examination should be different for different categories, the high court bench observed, asking the CBSE and the two boards to compile data on different categories and accordingly plan mode of examination for future examinations.
These conditions will be applicable for the CBSE examination commencing on March 5 and for exams of Punjab and Haryana boards, to be conducted thereafter.
The court was hearing a petition of Mohali student arguing that these students were taught in a different manner and suddenly the examination pattern has been changed, which has put them in a disadvantageous position, advocate Karan Nehra, appearing for the petitioner student said.
Nehra had told the court that prior to 2011 such children with disabilities had a different set of papers to assess their knowledge and skills. “They were given objective type questions to be answered and also permitted use of calculators, besides the normal facilities of extended time. However, now the subjective type questions would be asked. This way the children with disabilities would be disadvantaged even if some extra time is granted to them,” Nehra had told the court.
The petitioner had also objected to the CBSE not allowing scribes in certain categories of differely abled children. “There would be some children with certain disabilities who would be unable to write or respond to lengthy questions even if assistance of a scribe is given to them,” he had argued asking boards to evolve different modes of examination for different categories.